Violence concerns ahead of Philippines election

The Philippines president is concerned there will be an increase in election related violence in the final days of campaigning before Monday's polls.

More than 18,000 posts around the country will be contested in next week's election, with positions ranging from local council level to the nation's Congress.

Historically, elections in the Philippines have been marred by violence and corruption, but this year, President Benigno Aquino's government has enforced several measures in an effort to curb the bloodshed.

The communications secretary to the Philippine President, Ricky Carandang, has told Australia Network's Newsline that the number of violent incidents has dropped.

"As of May 7th of this year we've had 58 cases of reported election related incidents as per the police records," he said.

"At about May 13th in 2010, in the last election, there were about 130 violent incidents so we're seeing less than half of that number of violent incidents at least for now."